I often read a thread of old comments then go through and flag all the no-longer-needed ones*, but there's a wait of 5 seconds to flag a comment. The wait is a bit annoying, so I'd like it to be reduced to say, 3 seconds (as I don't normally hit the 3 second flag dialog delay). I'd prefer if we got rid of it altogether, but I understand rate limiting is necessary.

* For example, these three on Ask Ubuntu discuss an edit that was made 7 years ago: 1, 2, 3.

1 Answer
1

The rate limits are there to prevent abuse by flagging every comment, whether it should be or not. I can imagine reducing the rate limit would make a lot of people flag comments that didn't necessarily need to be flagged. If you are flagging legitimately, then waiting 3 seconds to load the flag dialog should be worth it to flag the comments. If almost all or all comments need to be removed, you should submit a custom moderator flag on the post asking for a comment purge rather than flagging every single comment that needs removal.

Oops, forgot to clarify - it's the 5 second comment flag delay that bugs me. I don't normally hit the 3 second flag dialog delay, so that's fine. Good point about flagging the post, btw.
– wjandreaJan 9 at 19:56

1

@wjandrea the 5 second delay is pretty much the same: if you are a legitimate flagger, it should be okay to wait 5 seconds.
– Pikachu the Watermelon WizardJan 9 at 19:58

So if a few comments in a big thread need to removed, maybe it's better to flag one comment and write something like "this comment and the ones replying to it are no longer needed"?
– wjandreaJan 9 at 20:01

2

@wjandrea if it's just a few (maybe 3 or less), then it's fine to flag the individual comments. When there's a lot of off-topic comments, just flag the post, asking for the comments to be removed. Post flags are much more likely to be reviewed than comment flags.
– Pikachu the Watermelon WizardJan 9 at 20:08

@pizzastaticvoidmain Can you explain why you think Post flags are more likely to be reviewed?
– Catija♦Jan 9 at 22:19

@Catija comments can be deleted automatically from other flags. I'm pretty sure flags on deleted comments are not reviewed.
– Pikachu the Watermelon WizardJan 9 at 22:19

3

Only if three are cast on one comment (possibly more if it's upvoted) and custom flags don't count. That's pretty uncommon. It's more likely on some sites than others. Flagging the post is great but I think your phrasing might lead people to think that mods intentionally ignore comment flags, which isn't the case.
– Catija♦Jan 9 at 22:23